Friday, April 27, 2012

Corporate Culture Runs Deep

Did you ever wonder where the phrase "runs deep" comes from? I have a theory for you. Good and bad things run deep. Commercials and advertisers use the term so do authors.

Executive personalities shape their corporate culture. Sometimes not as nicely as we would like to see and how do you clean the culture afterwards? can you even do it?

When you look at social media/business and transforming your company, you may also wonder the same question.

This week we read a double parsha which talks about leprosy, blemishes, emissions, childbirth and more sounds like fun, right? The references to the blemishes on the walls or floors and clothes shows that a person could corrupt what seems to be a non-corruptible item.

Compare that with your corporate culture issues and you begin to understand why the torah said some types required full destruction. Leviticus 14:43-45
43. And if the lesion returns and erupts in the house, after he had removed the stones, and after the house had been scraped around and after it had been plastered,
44. then the kohen shall come and look [at it]. Now, [if] the lesion in the house has spread, it is malignant tzara'ath in the house; it is unclean.
45. He shall demolish the house, its stones, its wood, and all the [mortar] dust of the house, and he shall take [them] outside the city, to an unclean place.
Some cultures just can't be changed. Others need time and if they are getting better have hope. It's a long process, full of introspection and questions, but the end result is a better person, company and community.
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Parsha Tazria - Metzora in the book of Vayikra Leviticus 12:1-13:59 and 14:1-15:33

It is said that the Torah or Bible could be interpreted in over 70 ways. More likely these days 100's of ways. In light of this idea, I am writing some posts that bring a business sense to what we can learn on a weekly basis. Enjoy, Shabbat Shalom

Friday, April 20, 2012

Mistake? What mistake?

Humbleness in our leaders, of industry or government, is rare. Getting any CEO or executive to EVER admit they made a mistake is pretty rare. Look at all the CEO's that helped kill the company they worked for and walked away with tons of money for doing so. They won't take the blame, but will reap their rewards, deserved or not.

Many people look at Moses as this great leader. Personally I have my doubts many times about this and will eventually write about that more at some point, but for right now he is THE leader.

In what may very well be the shortest Aliyah or section where someone is called up to the Torah reading, 10:16-20, Moses is shown by his underlings, and brother, that even he, the great leader can make a mistake. And how does he accept it?
10:20 - Moses heard [this], and it pleased him. וַיִּשְׁמַע מֹשֶׁה וַיִּיטַב בְּעֵינָיו:
But the translation here is not complete. The Hebrew actually says: "And Moses heard/listened, and it was good in his eyes."

Similar meanings but big differences when thinking about how executives see the world. It does please people when their subordinates shine, but the Torah is telling us the greatness of Moshe to recognize his mistake and humble him, but he saw it was good in his eyes. So we get to see a little bit of the man, the leader.

And so it is in business, sometimes leaders don't see or care what anyone says, their word is the only way. Other times the executive listens to others and concedes their input is better and that is what we all should be striving to do at work and at home.
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Parsha Shemini in the book of Vayikra Leviticus 9:1 - 11:47

It is said that the Torah or Bible could be interpreted in over 70 ways. More likely these days 100's of ways. In light of this idea, I am writing some posts that bring a business sense to what we can learn on a weekly basis. Enjoy, Shabbat Shalom

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